Valve actuating mechanism for hydraulic motors



Filed May 31, 1949 Feb. 13, 1951 la. E. DEARDORFF ETAL. 2,541,958

VALVE ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR HYDRAULIC MOTORS 4 Sheets-Sheet l iNVENTORS AND ALVIN A. MEQDOCK CLINTON E. DEARDGRFF Feb. 13, 1951 v C. E. DEARDORFF ETAL VALVE ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR HYDRAULIC MOTORS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 31, 1949 ENVEMWJRS ALVIN A. MEDQOQK CLINTQN Eu DEARDORFF AT T0 E N E. i

c. E. DEARDORFF ETAL VALVE ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR HYDRAULIC MOTORS 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed May 31, 1949 w ww 5 F R m N% m m K ADV w m M v/ MN m m M Kw wflwm mmm %m. m M N m M M M \\M mum k 5 Q% \M.\ ADC Q. mm Mm m QM KN .mw W a @m 1 m a u u Rm dmw m flumm lll ATTORNEY Feb. 13, 1951 a c. E. DEARYDORFF ETAL 2,541,958

VALVE 'ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR HYDRAULIC MOTORS Filed May 51, 1949 4Sheets-Sheev, 4

INVENTORS N ALVIN AMEDDOCK A D CLINTON E. DEARDORFF ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 13, 1951 VALVE ACTUATING MECHANISM FOR 7 HYDRAULIC MOTORS Clinton E. Deardorif, San Fernando, and Alvin A. Meddock, North Hollywood, Calif., assignors to Bendix Aviation Corporation, South Bend, Ind., a corporation of Delaware Application May 31, 1949, Serial No. 96,267

9 Claims. (Cl. 121-38) This invention relates to the control of hydraulic motor units consisting of a motor cylinder and an associated valve, and has to do particularly with the mechanism for actuating the valve.

The invention is particularly useful in the hydraulic control of ground-working or agricultural implements used with tractors and actuated by pressure fluid supplied from an engine-driven pump on the tractor.

In systems of this latter type it is desirable to have: (1) automatic unloading of the pump except during movement; (2) choice of either: (a) selective movement into any desired position accurately controllable by the operator, or (b) antomatic movement into a predetermined position; and (3) either slow or fast movement under ready control of the operator.

An object of the invention is to provide the foregoing desirable operating characteristics with a simple, inexpensive and reliable structure. I

Other more specific objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the description to follow.

Briefly, the invention comprises a double-acting hydraulic cylinder motor and control valve assembly in which, according to the way in which the handle of the valve is manipulated, the motor can be moved in either direction, either rapidly or slowly, and stopped in any portion of its travel under the full control of the operator, or can be started in either direction by the operator and automatically stopped when it reaches a preselected position or the end of its stroke.

This is in part a continuation of our application Serial No. 5,798, filed February 2, 1948, entitled Hydraulic Motor and Valve Assembly.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a hydraulic cylinder motor and valve assembly in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the assembly;

Fig. 3 is a right end elevation of the assembly;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken in the plane IV-IV of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken in the plane VV of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a detail section taken in the same plane as Fig. 5. but showing a method of blocking one V and right elevational views corresponding to Figs.

1, 2 and 3, respectively, but showing a modification of the valve-actuating mechanism; and

Fig. 13 is a left end elevational View of the assembly shown in plan in Fig. 10.

Referring first to Figs. 1, 2 and'3, the complete assembly therein'depicted comprises a motor cyl-' inder unit I5 and a valve unit It, the two units being detachably secured together by cap screws 51.

consisting of a bent rod 23 having a straight portion 23a extending parallel to the piston rod i9,

which straight portion carries a pair of longitudinal adjustable collars 24 and 26 for automatic restoration of the control valve to neutral position, as will be described later.

The cylinder 25 of the motor cylinder unit i5 has fluid passages 21 and 28 which extend from opposite ends of the cylinder 25 and terminate in an exterior face 29 of the motor cylinder unit,

which face seats against a corresponding face 39 on the valve unit I6. A motor port 3! in the valve unit is juxtaposed to the cylinder port 2? land is sealed with respect thereto by a sealing ring 32.

A motor port 33 in the valve unit it is juxtaposed to the cylinder passage 28 and is sealed with respect thereto by a seal 34. In addition to the passage 28', communication with the right end of the cylinder '25 is provided for by "an external auxiliary port 36 (Fig. 1) leading to the exterior of the motor cylinder unit, which port is normally plugged by a plug 35.

The valve unit it has a, longitudinal bore 31 constituting a valve cylinder in which a control member consisting of a valve piston 38 is recipro'cable. The main portion of this valve piston 38 is holiow, providing an internal passage 3'85 and has four external lands 582, 383, 386 and 3&5 which seal with the valve cylinder 31. Pressed finto opposite ends of the hollow piston 38 are a pair of end members 386 and 38's. member 386 extends through and seals with a valve cylinder end closure member it and coloperates with a centering spring mechanism positioned within an end cap 4] on the valve unit it. This centering mechanism comprises a helical compression spring 42 which is compressed between an exterior flange 43| on a thrust ele- The end ment as and an exterior flange it! on a thrust element M, thereby urging these two thrust elements apart. I neutral position, as shown in Fig. 5, the external flange 43! of the thrust element i3 rests against .a shoulder Nil constituted by the left end of the When the valve piston 38 is in valve unit 16, and the flange GM rests against I" the outer end of the cap M. The thrust element t3 has an internal flange 432 which bears against 3 a shoulder 388a on the end member 386 so that leftward movement of the valve piston 38 must result in compression of the spring 42. Likewise the thrust element 44 has an inwardly extending flange 342'which bears against a split ring 433 on the end member 385, preventing movement of the valve piston 38 to the right without compression of the spring 42.

The valve piston extension 381 extends through and seals with an end closure member 46 at the right end of the valve cylinder, and has a transverse hole 383 therein for receiving an actuating pin 48, the latter extending from a lever 49 and being retained in the hole 388 by a cotter pin 55 and washer The valve cylinder 37 (Fig. 5) is intersected by the motor ports 3! and 33 which extend thereinto horizontally. The valve cylinder is also intersected by a pressure port 52 and an exhaust port 53 which extend thereinto from the underside. A normallyplugged port 54 is juxtaposed to the cylinder port 33. Another permanently plugged port 55 cooperates with the land 383 to by-pass fluid direct from the pressure port 52 to the exhaust port 53 when the valve is in neutral position.

The hydraulic circuits will be readily apparent from inspection of Figs. '7, 8 and 9. Fig. 7 shows the arrangement when an auxiliary motor 60 is to be operated in synchronism with the motor l5. Under this condition the cylinder passage 28 is blocked by insertion of a plug 6| (Fig. 6)

in the recess which contains the sealing ring 34,

and the plug 35 (Fig. 1) is removed, and the port 33 is connected by a duct 52 (Fig. 7) to oneend of the auxiliary motor 68, the other end of this cylinder being connected by a duct 63 to the port 54 of the valve. since the port 54 and the motor port 33 (Fig. 5) are intercommunicated, fluid is supplied directly from the port 54 to the right end of the auxiliary motor cylinder 68 instead of to the right end of the motor cylinder 25, and fluid is supplied from the left end of the auxiliary cylinder 60 to the right end of the motor cylinder 25. Fluid connection between the left end of the motor cylinder 25 and the valve unit remains unchanged.

As shown in Fig. '7, the valve is in neutral position, in which pressure fluid supplied by a pump 85 to the pressure port 52 is by-passed through the blind port 55 past the piston land 383 to the exhaust port 53 from which it flows back to the reservoir 55.

Referring now to Fig. 8, the valve piston is shown moved to the left a short distance suflicient to carry the land 383 past the blind port 55, thereby cutting off by-pass of pressure fluid from the pressure port 52 to the exhaust port 53. At the same time, the piston land 382 permits throttled flow of pressure fluid into the jack .port 3! and the left end of the motor cylinder 25. At the same time, the motor port 33 connected with the right end of the motor cylinder 25 is uncovered by the piston land 385, permitting flow of fluid into the right end 31! of the valve cylinder and thence through a passage 381a in the right piston extension 381 into the exhaust passage 33! within the piston 38, which exhaust passage is constantly communicated by a piston port 389 with the main exhaust port 53. At small openings of the valve, as shown in Fig. 8, the pressure drop past the land 382 into the motor port "35 and past the land 385 into the valve cylinder end '31! is large as compared to the pressure drop through the passage 381a, so that and 19 in-the face 29.

the pressure developed in the cylinder end 3' does not exert sufiicient force against the right end face 38a of the piston 38 to overcome the restoring force of the centering spring 42 (Fig. 5). Therefore, if the manual force holding the valve in slightly open position, as shown in Fig. 8, is removed, the centering spring 42 will automatically restore the valve to neutral position. This operation is the same if the valve is moved in the other d.rection outof neutral, the pressure force against the left end 312 of the valve piston produced by the pressure drop through the passage 381b in the left piston extension being insufficient to overcome the restoring spring.

However, if the valve is moved into Wide open position, as shown in Fig. 9, the pressure drop past the land 385 b-comes relatively small as compared to the pressure drop in the passage 381a, so that the pressure in the right end 3' of the valve cylinder is sufficient to overcome the force of the centering spring 42 and maintain the valve in open position even though the manual force that opened the valve is removed. The valve then remains in open position until it is automatically r.stored to neutral by a mechanism to be described later.

The particular valve construction shown in Fig. 5 is relatively inexpensive, since the valve cylinder 31 has no internal annular ports requiring special machining operations. The necessity ofthe usual annular ports or recesses is avoided by balancing each of the ports with an opposite blind port. As an example, the port 3| has a balancing blind port 3la which is produced in a single machining operation with the port 31. Similarly the ports 52 and 53 have corresponding blind ports. In some positions of the valve piston 38, the land 382 completely covers the port 3| and its cooperating blind port 3la, and hence this land 382 is provided with a circumferential groove 382a which functions to equalize the pressures in the ports 3i and 31a at all times. Similarly a circumferential groove 385a in the land 385 interconnects the ports 33 and 54 to equalize the pressures therein.

It is usually desirable in systems of the type to which this invention relates to provide a relief valve at some point in the system to prevent the development of excessive pressures. In accordance with the invention, the relief valve is economically incorporated in the valve unit. Thus as shown in Fig. 4, there is provided immediately above the exhaust port 53 a balancing port 53a which communicates with a relief valve chamber 10 which is formed in the valve unit l6 and opens into the face 38 thereof. The valve chamber 10 is closed by a closure plate H containing a port 12, the inner end of which constitutes a seat for a ball valve 13 which is urged against the seat by a helical compression spring 14. The closure plate H is sealed with respect to the face 29 of the motor cylinder unit by a sealing ring 15. The port 12 in the closure plate 1| communicates with a port T8 in the motor cylinder unit 15 which port (Fig. 5) communicates with a passage 11 in the motor cylinder unit which terminates in a pair of ports 78 These ports normally intercommunicate a pressure port 88 in the valve unit, which is in constant communication with the main pressure port 52, and a port 81, which is in constant communication with the annular space defined within the valve cylinder between the piston lands 384 and 385, and through which pressure fluid is supplied to the motor port 33 A p v u y men on d, the valve piston ex:

tension 38! is conn ed by n .8 o. a c ma in l ver 4 Re rring o F gs L. 2 an 3, his ac n ever .91. bifu ca e a its ower end and a es a tat onar sc ew 82 which is screwed into the motor unit Hi. The head, 82a

of the screw limits movement. of the lower end of the lever 49 outwardly, and the lever is yieldably urged against. the head 82a. by a compres. sion spring 83. This spring 83 normally retains the lever 49 in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 3, in which the upper end 490; of the lever 49 is in the path of the stop collars 24 and 26 on the rod 23a. Under these conditions, by suitably positioning the collars 24 and 26 on. the rod 23a, they can be caused to contact the lever 49 and restore it to neutral position in response to movement of the motor piston rod; l9 into predetermined positions.

The lever 49 can be actuated by a handle 90,, which consists of a bent rod having a short straight portion 99a which extends through a pair of holes provided therefor in an intermediate U-shaped portion of the lever 49, this section 99a of the rod being free to rotate about an axis extending substantially radially from the pivot pin 32. The major portion 99b of the control handle. 99 extends at an angle to the section. 99a and is adapted to be grasped at its outer end by the operator. Cooperating with the section 9% of the handle is a stationary fulcrum member 92 having a face 93 juxtaposed to the handle 99 in all positions of the latter. A torsion spring 990 (Fig. 3) encircling the portion. or. the straight part 99a of the rod that is within the U-shaped part of the lever 49. urges the portion 90b of the handle 99 towardthe fulcrum member 92 at all times, but with insuflicient force to overcome the helical compression spring 83.

There are many circumstances under which it is desirable to cause the motor piston, rod. I9

to move rapidly in one direction or the other of its stroke and be stopped automatically at positions t m ned, by he settin o he. c l a 24 and 26. Under these circumstances, the operator simply swings the. handle- 99 about the. pin 92 through a first path in direction to rock the lever 49 through a first: path about the pivot pin 82 in which the spring 83 is not compressed, and releases, the handle, This, opens. the valve into fully opened position as previously described with reference to Fig. 9, under which; conditions the valve automatically holds, open until it is positively restored, and restoration is. eifected'by' contact of the upper end 491} of. the lever 49 by one or the other of the, collars 2A and 26, because the said first path of the lever 49 is in the path of the collars 24 and 26.

There are other-'occasions-in which it is desirab efiec 9 m em ntc he piston rod l9 and stop it in a selected position,v This opera,- tion can bestbe. n r cr nedhyrqc sina the handle 90 into asecondpath parallel to its: first path in which it bears against the fulcrum 9.2 with sufficient force to overcome the spring 8?; (Fig. 3) and rock the lever. 49 and the valve piston rod 381 about the axis of the latter sufficiently to actress carry the upper end 49a of the lever out of its first path, that of the collars 24 and 26, and into a second path alignment with a pair of stop screws 94 and on the member 92. The handle is then swung about the pivot 92 in its second path, which is parallel to but displaced from the first path, until the upper end 49a of the lever 49 contacts one of the stopscrews 94 or 95. These stop screws 94 and 95 are so adjusted that when the lever end 49a is moved into contact therewith, the valve is opened only slightly as shown in Fig. 8, so that the pressure drop in the passage 331a or the passage 387i) is insufiicient to hold the valve in operated position. Therefore, if, after moving the lever as described to carry the .lever end 49a against one of the stop screws 99 or 95, the operator releases the handle 99, it and the valve are automatically restored to normal position by the valve centering spring 42 (Fig. 5) and the lever restoring spring 990 (Fig. 3)

Occasion may arise when the operator w hes to move the piston rod I9 rapidly to a position beyond that corresponding to the settings of the collars 24 and 25. He can do this by rocking the handle 99 into a third path parallel to and intermediate its first and second paths, which moves the upper end 49a of the lever into a third path intermediate and parallel to its first and second paths previously described, in which its swing about the pivot 82 is interrupted neither by the collars 24 or 26 nor the stop screws 99 It is to be noted that during this mode of operation the pressure force exerted on the end 39a or 38b of the valve piston 99 by the pressure fluid can be readily overcome by the operator. Furthermore, if the operate-r fails to manually restore the valve to neutral position before the piston it reaches the end. of its stroke, restoration of the valve piston to normal is automatically effected by the centering spring 92, because when fluid ceases to flow from the motor cylinder there is no longer any pressure drop through the passage 382 a or 3 87b.

The modification shown in Figs. 10 to 13 has the same internal valve construction as that described except that the valve piston, in addition to having the extension 35'! extending from the right end of the valve cylinder, has an extension 38% extending from the left end thereof to which a handle it! is connected, an arm 592 constituting a shoulder element for actuation by the collars 2 and. 265 of the piston rod member 23 being secured to the right extension 98?.

The shoulder element 92 is rigidly connected to the extension 39; for both longitudinal rotary movement therewith by nuts and its screwed onto the threaded end thereof.

The handle i9! is pivoted to the left ext nsion 38% of the valve piston rod by a pivot pin 39?; for rotation in a longitudinal plane with respect to the piston rod and rotation with the piston rod about the axis of the latter. The lower end of the handle I9! is bifurcated at iii la and straddles a bolt I97 which functions as a fulcrum for the handle. The lower end mm of the handle is yieldably held against the head 593 of the bolt I91 by a helical compression spring i953. which surrounds the bolt I91 and is compressed hctween the end portion liila of the handle andthe head of the motor cylinder !5. Whenthe handle liil is in its normal position, as shown in full lines in Figs, 10., 12 and 13, the shoulder element I02 is in they path of the collars 24. and 26, on the. motor piston rod. member 23. sothat. when the handle has been actuated in one direction or the other out of neutral position to reciprocate the motor piston and the piston rod member 23, one or the other of the two collars 24 or 26 contacts the shoulder member H32 at the end of the stroke to shift the valve control member back into neutral position.

However, if the handle I9! is rocked clockwise into its second path of movement, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 13, compressing the spring I09 in so doing, the shoulder element I02 is carried out of the path of the collars 24 and 26 so that the operator can, if he so desires, shift the piston beyond the limit positions determined by the settings of the collars.

To limit the degree of opening of the valve in the low speed (second) path of the handle in l, a stop screw 1 i is provided on the shoulder element IE2, and a stop screw ii! is provided on a flange M2 on the left end of' the valve cylinder body IE. The stop screw H6 on the shoulder element I82 is normally clear of an end plate I Hi on the valve body [6, but is juxtaposed to this plate I I4 (Fig. 12) when the handle and shoulder element [e2 are rocked into the low speed position shown in dotted lines in Figs. 12 and 13. The other low speed stop Hi is normally clear of the handle lill, as shown in Fig. 13, but is juxta= posed thereto when it is in the low speed position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 13.

A single high speed stop screw H6 is shown in Figs. 11 and 13 which is in the first or normal path of the handle ifli. This stop H is not always necessary, but is sometimes desirable, particularly when the motor is connected to a heavy ground-working implement, to limit the speed at which the implement drops.

As shown, the handle iii! of the modification of Figs. to 13 does not have a third parallel path of movement corresponding to the third path of the lever 99 in the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 3, but such a third path can be providedv if desired by relocating stops H t and H6 so that in an intermediate (third) path between the first and second paths, lever H32 is out of the path of the collars 24 and 26, the handle HM clears the stops Ill and HE, and the stop H0 clears the stop H4.

It will be obvious that the mounting of handle IE! directly on the opposite end of valve control member from the shoulder element I02 provides a simpler construction in some respects as compared to the handle arrangement of Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and is more suitable for some installations. Although for the purpose of explaining the invention, a particular embodiment thereof has been shown and described, obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art, and we do not desire to be limited to the exact details shown and described.

We claim:

1. Hydraulic apparatus comprising: a hydraulic motor having a piston and piston rod adapted to be reciprocated thereby; a valve for controlling fluid flow to said motor and having a control member reciprocable in each direction from a neutral position, in which the piston is locked, into positions for moving the piston in opposite the directions; and actuating mechanism including T a control handle movable through a plurality of selectable parallel paths in opposite directions from a neutral position, for shifting said control member; said actuating mechanism including a shoulder element movable by said control handle the into and through a selected one of a' plurality of parallel paths corresponding to said parallel paths of said control handle, the movement of said shoulder element Within any one of its parallel paths corresponding to the movement of said control member into and out of neutral position; spring means yieldably urging said handle and shoulder element into a first of said parallel paths; and a member reciprocated by said piston rod for engaging said shoulder element and shifting said actuating mechanism into neutral position when the shoulder element is in its said first path and the piston rod reaches a predetermined position.

2. Apparatus'in accordance with claim 1 including stop means in a second of said parallel paths for engaging said shoulder element and arbitrarily limiting extent of movement of said handle out of neutral position when said handle is in said second path.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2 including a third unobstructed path of movement for said shoulder element paraliel to said first and second paths.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which said control member comprises a shaft reciprocable along and rotatable about its axis said actuating mechanism comprises a lever pivotally connected to said shaft for rocking movement about an axis extending transversely through said shaft; means pivotally supporting one end of said lever against linear movement parallel to said shaft while permitting limited swinging movement of said one end about the axis of said shaft.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 in which said spring means bears against said pivotally supported one end of said lever.

6. Apparatus according to claim 4 in which said handle is pivotally connected to said lever for rocking movement with respect thereto about an axis extending approximately radially with respect to the pivotal axis of said. one end of said lever; said handle having an intermediate portion substantially displaced from the pivotal axis of said handle; and a stationary fulcrum member positioned for said portion of said lever to bear against.

'7. Apparatus according to claim 6 including spring means urging said handle about its pivotal axis in direction to bear against said stationary fulcrum.

8. Apparatus according to claim 1 in which said control member comprises a valve piston REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,286,256,. Brown June 16, 1942 2,311,516 Brown Feb. 16, 1943 

